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Baby Foods: 5 to 6 months old

Time to introduce cooked mashed and strained vegetables. Choose green, yellow and orange color vegetables.

Milk

Breast milk: Every 2 to 4 hours

Or Infant Formula: 24 to 45 oz

Dairy Milk: None

Continue with Rice, Ragi, Bajra Cereals

Time to introduce Strained Vegetables

Preferred: Sweet Potatoes, Acorn/Butternut Squash (Indian Kaddu), Green Beans

Sweet Potato Baby food (5 months Plus)

After the baby has become accustomed to the cereals, introduce baby to strained vegetables starting in small quantity (1 Tablespoon) at a time. Add only one new vegetable at a time every 4 days. If the baby develops any allergy like skin rash, diarrhea or watering of eyes and nose or vomiting, switch to another vegetable.

Commercially prepared baby vegetables include Carrots, Butternut squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, spinach and beets. Law requires that commercial baby foods be prepared with low nitrate vegetables (Carrots, spinach, and beets)

Homemade strained vegetables

1. Don't use Spinach, Mustard Greens, Carrots, Turnip, Collard Greens and Beets. These may be high in nitrates and interfere with oxygen absorption. The commercial baby foods use low nitrate vegetables.
2. Don't use corn
3. Don't use canned vegetables they may contain salt and preservatives.
4. If frozen vegetables are used, thaw them in refrigerator overnight, and rinse them thoroughly.
5. Preferred vegetables are Winter squash (Butternut, Hubbard, Acorn), Pumpkin, Potatoes, Sweet potatoes, Peas, and Green beans.
6. Always cook in minimum plain water.

Don't add any spices (including salt), sweeteners (sugar, honey, jaggery), fats or oils.

Method

Wash and peel vegetable. Discard peels and seeds. Cut in to small cubes about the size of peas. Cook covered with minimum water till soft. Use a tea strainer and a spoon to pass vegetable through the sieve.